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1 – 10 of over 7000Fahrettin Okcabol and Joan Hoffman
There is growing apprehension about climate change and the role played by fossil fuels. Exploration of renewable sources of energy as an alternative to fossil fuels reveals that…
Abstract
There is growing apprehension about climate change and the role played by fossil fuels. Exploration of renewable sources of energy as an alternative to fossil fuels reveals that there is no path forward toward a true green economy that does not have negative environmental side effects. Thus, the improvement of managerial and financial accounting to provide more environmental information and accountability by governmental and nongovernmental institutions is increasingly important in guiding us toward wiser choices. Since the 1970s, the increasing concerns about the environment in the United States have led to improved regulation and more comprehensive environmental reporting requirements and accounting standards. Also, global institutions have been created to foster voluntary reporting of both direct and indirect environmental impacts of their activities by institutions. However, evidence suggests that, while some large global firms have found it useful to engage in sustainability reporting throughout their operations, in general, the US organizational environmental reporting is not strong and is oriented toward the legal minimum when present. If we are to take account of the many direct and indirect ways in which our production choices affect our environment, then our institutions need to play a larger role in informing our choices. Both the Environmental Managerial Accounting Initiative and an enhanced balanced scorecard approach are recommended as frameworks for future efforts; public and private institutions must also include life cycle analysis in decision-making systems in order to enhance their ability to help achieve sustainable economic progress.
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This paper aims to investigate the strategy, accounting and accountability interface in sustainability implementation in a large public tertiary education organisation in New…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the strategy, accounting and accountability interface in sustainability implementation in a large public tertiary education organisation in New Zealand.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses ethnography as an “engaging research” to help explain the real-life enactment of accounting and accountability in advancing/deterring sustainability initiatives. The study draws upon neo-institutional theoretical perspectives to help interpret the findings.
Findings
Accounting and accountability are powerful conduits for strategy implementation. Successful sustainability strategy implementation requires the embedding of financial accountability within the implementation process.
Practical implications
A strong ideological commitment from senior management is required to firmly embed sustainability in the tertiary organisation's belief systems, values and norms to get wider organisational acceptance and institutionalisation. Accounting needs to take a position of centrality within organisations to help facilitate sustainability implementation.
Social implications
Government policy needs to incorporate specific concepts of sustainability into the tertiary education strategy and funding framework to make public tertiary organisations accountable for sustainability to the wider society.
Originality/value
This study provides unique insights into the sustainability implementation process. It complements existing literature on sustainability accounting and accountability.
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Niklas Kreander and Ken McPhail
The purpose of this paper is to explore how the Norwegian Government incorporated its responsibility for human rights into the investment practices of its Global Pension Fund and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how the Norwegian Government incorporated its responsibility for human rights into the investment practices of its Global Pension Fund and how human rights issues were negotiated when exclusion was considered.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on a series of interviews the authors analyse the way in which responsibility for human rights has been translated into the practices of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global.
Findings
The paper documents how a large investment fund used several mechanisms to address human rights risks. The authors demonstrate that different logics among actors sometimes impeded addressing human rights issues. The findings demonstrate that sovereign wealth funds (SWF) can be held accountable for human rights.
Research limitations/implications
The paper illustrates the difficulty of co-operation between actors with different logics. This can result in institutional conflict, but also in positive outcomes for human rights.
Practical implications
Attempts to introduce human rights into state investments may result in increased institutional complexity. The findings indicate that state investors can address human rights issues, but that the ability to do so is diminished where divestment creates political tension.
Social implications
Large investors can influence companies on specific human rights issues.
Originality/value
This is one of the first empirical investigations of the human rights practices of a SWF. The authors contribute to the literatures on accounting and human rights, SWF and institutional theory.
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Navarani Vejaratnam, Santha Chenayah, Zeeda Fatimah Mohamad and Andrea Appolloni
This study aims to investigate the potential influence of organisational responses to conflicting institutional demands towards barriers to environmental performance (EP…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the potential influence of organisational responses to conflicting institutional demands towards barriers to environmental performance (EP) monitoring of government green procurement (GGP) in Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper used a qualitative methodology based on a single case study involving policymakers, procurement officials and a monitoring authority. The study data were analysed drawing on the perspectives of organisational responses to conflicting institutional demands.
Findings
The three key challenges that hindered EP monitoring of GGP in Malaysia were policy irregularities, knowledge asymmetry and communication gaps. These challenges are likely the consequences of the acquiescence, avoidance, compromise and defiance strategies commonly used in dealing with the institutional complexity faced in Malaysia’s public policy arena.
Practical implications
The government, at various institutional levels, may benefit from the theoretical and empirical findings of the case study. Knowledge of barriers can facilitate the policymakers in designing the monitoring process meticulously. Meanwhile, awareness of the influence of organisational responses to institutional complexity on GGP barriers can help redefine field actors’ interests and values in improving policy monitoring. In addition, reporting of the monitored EP bridges the institutional gaps between the macro-state level and the micro-organisational level of GGP, besides increasing the government’s transparency and accountability regarding green procurement.
Social implications
Fewer challenges in the EP monitoring system contribute to an improved GGP policy. In turn, an improved policy may enhance public health and reduce environmental degradation.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the GGP monitoring and institutional theory by showing that barriers to EP monitoring culminate from the organisational response to the institutional demands faced in the policy environment. The authors argue that this is one of the few studies that have examined the barriers to EP monitoring of public policy explicated in the context of organisational responses to institutional demands.
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Md Moazzem Hossain and Manzurul Alam
The purpose of this paper is to investigate organisational accountability to less economically powerful stakeholders in the absence of formal corporate social reporting (CSR…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate organisational accountability to less economically powerful stakeholders in the absence of formal corporate social reporting (CSR) guidelines. In addition, this study emphasises the role of administrative and institutional reforms in empowering stakeholders in a developing country context, namely, Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach
Consistent with prior literature, this qualitative study collected data through semi-structured interviews with 23 representatives from NGOs, media, civil society, customers, regulators, trade union leaders and employees who are considered as less economically powerful stakeholders. This paper draws on the demand for administrative reforms along with an institutional support structure (Owen et al., 1997) to enhance CSR and corporate accountability.
Findings
The empirical evidence shows that there is a need for a stand-alone mandatory CSR to achieve stakeholder accountability. It also shows that there are demands from “stakeholders to right to know” about the company’s social and environmental performance along with stakeholder engagements. There is a perceived demand for administrative reform along with institutional supports that can contribute to the CSR development in Bangladesh. These administrative reforms would encourage transparent corporate social and environmental practices. Given the socio-economic and vulnerable environmental conditions of Bangladesh, stakeholders in this study suggested contextually relevant CSR guidelines towards greater accountability.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is one of the few engagement-based studies which explore the perceptions of less economically powerful stakeholders towards CSR developments in an emerging economy – Bangladesh. The findings of this study using the theoretical lens of accountability with administrative and institutional reforms lead us to conclude that companies in Bangladesh have low level of CSR towards stakeholder accountability and stakeholder engagements.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the CSR literature by highlighting the needs of CSR from the stakeholder’s accountability perspective.
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Yi-Chun Huang, Chih-Hsuan Huang and Min-Li Yang
The purpose of this paper is to explore how internal and external factors simultaneously drive firms to adopt green supply chain (GSC) initiatives and to construct a comprehensive…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how internal and external factors simultaneously drive firms to adopt green supply chain (GSC) initiatives and to construct a comprehensive research model by drawing upon institutional theory, stewardship theory, and view of performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The data collected from 380 manufacturers in the electrical and electronics industries in Taiwan were analyzed via structural equation modeling and bootstrapping.
Findings
First, institutional pressures affect the GSC initiatives of firms. Second, institutional pressures influence the environmental stewardship behaviors (ESBs) of managers. Third, the ESBs of managers affect the GSC initiatives of firms. Fourth, the GSC initiatives of firms influence their environmental performance, economic performance, and competitiveness. Fifth, the bootstrapping results reveal that institutional pressures indirectly affect the GSC initiatives of firms through the ESBs of managers.
Research limitations/implications
Environmental sustainability has intensified the need for firms to develop a corporate culture. Future research can investigate the relationship among the institutional pressures, greening corporate culture, and GSC initiatives of firms.
Practical implications
Those managers facing institutional pressures must continually focus on the effects of external factors on the GSC initiatives of their firms. They must also increase their commitment and support to such initiatives to attain favorable levels of environmental performance, economic performance, and competitiveness.
Originality/value
This study integrates four streams of literature on institutional theory, stewardship theory, GSC initiatives, and view of performance. Apart from analyzing field- and organization-level data simultaneously, this paper is also the first to demonstrate the relationships among institutional pressures, ESBs of managers, GSC initiatives, and firm performance.
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Mohamed Saeudy and Khaled Hussainey
This paper investigates the development of moralised business ideologies (MBIs) amongst sustainable banks as they navigate social and environmental business prospects.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the development of moralised business ideologies (MBIs) amongst sustainable banks as they navigate social and environmental business prospects.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical evidence is drawn from top-management-level interviews with 16 UK-based small and medium-sized banks that specialise in financing social and environmental projects.
Findings
MBIs have emerged in the literature review and empirical data analysis as a new concept taken on by sustainable banks with roots closer to sustainability such as ethical practices, moralised values, sustainable business models and ecological standards. The results confirm that MBIs help banking institutions create a more sustained positive impact in terms of social and environmental business opportunities.
Originality/value
This paper offers novel evidence on the intersection between banking and MBIs, with a focus on social, sustainability and environmental considerations.
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Umair Riaz, Muhammad Al Mahameed, Lisa Gentemann and Theresa Dunne
This study aims to explore how organisations use institutional language in Green Bond reports to explain and justify their activities using language that describes and reflects…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how organisations use institutional language in Green Bond reports to explain and justify their activities using language that describes and reflects narratives while simultaneously constructing and shaping ideology. The paper mobilises Wodak and Meyer’s critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine reports and related documentation relating to Green Bonds issued in France.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses three legitimating discourses: technocratic, environmental and social and business performance to develop a linguistic perspective that permits contributions to existing knowledge in the area.
Findings
The analysis attempts to identify the discursive strategies used to legitimise Green Bond issuance via claims linked to environmental management improvements and business activities’ social impact.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the critical literature on organisational legitimation and responsibility, investigations of Green Bond narratives and an understanding of broader environmental reporting in the financial sector.
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Paul Adjei Kwakwa and Solomon Aboagye
The study examines the effect of natural resources (NRs) and the control of corruption, voice and accountability and regulatory quality on carbon emissions in Africa. Aside from…
Abstract
Purpose
The study examines the effect of natural resources (NRs) and the control of corruption, voice and accountability and regulatory quality on carbon emissions in Africa. Aside from their individual effects, the moderation effect of institutional quality is assessed.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from 32 African countries from 2002 to 2021 and the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) regression methods were used for the investigation.
Findings
In the long term, the NRs effect is sensitive to the estimation technique employed. However, quality regulatory framework, robust corruption control and voice and accountability abate any positive effect of NRs on carbon emissions. Institutional quality can be argued to moderate the CO2-emitting potentials of resource extraction in the selected African countries.
Practical implications
Enhancing regulation quality, enforcing corruption control and empowering citizens towards greater participation in governance and demanding accountability are essential catalyst to effectively mitigate CO2 emissions resulting from NRs.
Originality/value
The moderation effect of control of corruption, voice and accountability and regulatory quality on the NR–carbon emission nexus is examined.
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